Apple Wine Q

[wildhair]

I am in the process of harvesting a LOT of Yellow Transparent apples. I have been coring them, grinding them up, then freezing them before putting them in the fruit press later this fall.

BUTT - that's labor intensive = time intensive. I freeze most of my other fruit before fermenting it - has anyone tried freezing apples whole, then just pressing them after thawing? I have more freezer space than I do time. Even if I just froze them for a few days and then pressed them - it could eliminate the coring & chopping that would save HUGE amounts of time AND clean-up.

thoughts?

 

[Scooter68]

The issue is the seeds. You really don't want any part of the seeds in your wine subject to fermenting and splitting open. Same goes for Cherry pits and Apricot and peach stones. They all contain substances that will not do your wine or you any good.

I'm going through the same thing with my apples which suffer from numerous peck marks and spots. The majority of the apple is good but I have to cut them up by hand. Coring them doesn't do any good and a lot of my apples would lose a lot of good fruit through a one-size-fits all coring process.

And to make things worse for me.... I spilled about 3 cups of finely cut up apples on floor last night. All of that time wasted but the deer and critters had a good feast last night.

DON'T neglect to use your pectic enzyme on your apples as you crush them. As soon as they are crushed and even before freezing. Give the pectic enzyme as much time on those apples to break them down. Someone posted a link to a foreign story about someone who compared different ways to get the most from the apples. Essentially it came down to Core, Crush, Pectic Enzyme, Freeze, wait at least 3 days , Thaw, then press the juice. His results were a LOT more juice from the apples and the left over pulp was more like dry fiber than moist pulp.

 

[bkisel]

I'd guess that, after freezing the apples, if you could successfully separate the juice from the majority of the pulp, as is done in making apple cider, you'd have a good must from which to make apple wine. [I've made three 6 gallon batches of apple wine, made from fresh pressed apple cider, that has been well received by family and friends.] Good luck!

 

[wildhair]

How much pectic enzyme do you use...per gallon of chopped fruit, say? Or do you just sprinkle some on & mix it in? And should I sprinkle some Fruit Fresh (citric acid) on the fruit to keep it from browning?

 

[bkisel]

How much pectic enzyme do you use...per gallon of chopped fruit, say? Or do you just sprinkle some on & mix it in? And should I sprinkle some Fruit Fresh (citric acid) on the fruit to keep it from browning?

Hmm... I've been using 3 tsp. pectic enzyme (stir) for the must of my fruit wines. I've made 6 gallon batches of fruit wine with as little as 6 lbs. of fruit (this was my early DB batches) up to 30 lbs. of fruit for 6 gallons for my peach and banana (first try is still batch aging) wines. My peach wines have sometimes needed a second hit of enzyme to aid clearing the haze.

Don't know how to figure lbs. apple as all 3 batches have been made from apple cider.

 

[Mismost]

wildhair....I have no experience with what you suggest. However, I can find no fault with it either. I suspect after freezing you may not even need to grind before you press....they are going to be pretty mushy.

Try it and see.

 

[wildhair]

I suspect after freezing you may not even need to grind before you press....they are going to be pretty mushy.

That was my thought. These apples go soft pretty easy anyway. Plus - freezing breaks down the cell walls and should release more juice. I believe I will try it because I have no more room to refrigerate them. I think I'll wash them, check for worms and freeze a batch. And see what happens.

 

[Scooter68]

I've looked and can't find anything other than a Jack Keller recipe that calls for 1 tsp of pectic enzyme for two different recipes. One has 34lbs of apples the other 12 lbs.

Also nobody seems to know of what is 'too much' pectic enzyme. Since it has no flavor I'm going to add about 1/2 tsp for every 1 gallon freezer bag of chopped apples. (I'm calling them chopped because the pieces are mostly between 1/2" chunks to maybe 3/4" chunks. Then I'm putting the full bags in the fridge overnight and into the freezer then next day. I want to give the pectic enzyme as much time as possible on the apples.

I too am hoping for a nice mush when I thaw them out so the press doesn't have to be worked quite as hard.

Keep us posted on your progress. I'm still collected and cutting up apples as they are ready from our two apple trees. Hoping for one to two gallons of juice.

 

[Julie]

I cut the apples in half and then freeze, after they are frozen I take them out and put them in a paint strainer bag, then press. You won't have a problem with the seeds doing it this way, don't grind them because now you are crushing the seeds.

 

[wildhair]

Well, if I freeze them whole, there's no point in putting in pectic enzyme since it won;t penetrate the skin of the apples. My understanding is pectic enzyme is the one additive that it's hard to add too much. I had a 2 gal. batch of melon wine that refused to clear and added several tsp. of pectic enzyme several times.

Will let ya'll know if it works or doesn't.

 

[Smok1]

I have an apple tree and make apple
Wine as well, i core and juice my apples before making wine mainly because someone told me apple seeds contain arsenic or cyanides, correct me if im wrong, ive done quit a bit of research ( on google ) and found apple seeds to be one of those seeds u dont want in ypur wine

 

[Smok1]

Quick google picture

I also juice ginger/apple/wheatgrass every morning for breakfast and i always make sure no apple seeds get into the juicer, i dont know about you but i juice alot more than 20 apples for a batch of wine and i dont want to ingest any cyanide, ive made quite a few batches of apple wine with my dad and quite a few with my wife, use a apple corer, then freeze the wedges, make sure not to get any seeds in there.

 

[Julie]

The seeds need to be cracked open to get to the cyanide and they are pretty hard. Smok1 thanks for that post!

 

[Smok1]

Heres a picture off the first batch off our apple tree, i always make a batch off the slightly unripe ones first, and to be honest every year thats the one people like the most. It has a slight green tinge too it, and taste wonderful.

Edit: picture didnt post

 

[Smok1]

Try this one more time

 

[Scooter68]

As Julie says don't freeze them whole. They will take longer to freeze and forever to thaw out and by the time the core is thawed the outside will be turning brown. At least quarter them up. If you bag them before pressing seeds should be captured in the bag. As for the pectic enzyme perhaps dissolve it in a cup or two of water and pour that over the quartered apples before freezing.

 

[Scooter68]

As far as a "Lethal Dose" Who cares? Are apple seeds good for you? Do they add a desirable flavor to the wine?

Why taint the wine even if it doesn't make you sick. Why leave them in and possibly impart a bitter or off flavor? A little too much K-Meta isn't going to kill you either, but it sure ruins the flavor of the wine at a certain point.

 

[Smok1]

As far as a "Lethal Dose" Who cares? Are apple seeds good for you? Do they add a desirable flavor to the wine?

Why taint the wine even if it doesn't make you sick. Why leave them in and possibly impart a bitter or off flavor? A little too much K-Meta isn't going to kill you either, but it sure ruins the flavor of the wine at a certain point.

Well i juice apples from my tree often for wine and mixing every morning with my wheatgrass and ginger juice, so i care. I was just making sure everyone else had the knowledge of the health effects on apple seeds as they are bad for you and i wouldnt want anyone trying to juice apple seeds without knowing the health effects it can have. A chemical which occurs in cyanide can be extracted from apple seed by crushing the seeds in a juicer as well as being extracted by using alcohol, so fermenting seeds is not a practice i choose to take on either.

 

[Forager]

Wildhair, I tried what you're suggesting last fall and it honestly wasn't the greatest. I've got a press, but no crusher. I cut the apples (and crabapples) in half, froze them, thawed them out, then tried to smash them up in a bucket with a blunt object (baseball bat). It worked kinda, but even thawed out, the apples were still pretty resilient (and slippery). It ended up being a huge amount of work. However I'm not sure if I would've gotten much juice if I'd just tried to press them from halves...

Let us know your results though, maybe it comes down to the apple variety.

 

[Smok1]

I use an apple corer, cores the apple and slices it into 6 wedges. Then i freeze, thaw, and run through an Omega slow press juicer, id say it extracts 90% of the juice and rejects a dry pulp. I use the juice in the primary and put the pulp into a fruit bag and drop that into the primary for the first 5 days or so or until it sg gets to 1.02 to try and extract any remainder juices and color from the skins